Silvery Blades
by eocine
Summary: An adventure through Faerun in several parts. Rated T for the time being, might change in the future. I doubt that any of the major NPC's of Faerun will be appearing. edited title as I've just learned that a Salvatore novel had the same name... Whoops.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER ONE:**

As he weaved through the back streets Karosin resisted the urge to scowl at the clumsy pursuit behind him, not so much at their presence, which didn't concern him in any real way, but at the fact that they would inevitably have to be dealt with, and that he would have to do it in such a way that wouldn't lead to awkward questions later on from his wife. Such are the sacrifices of a married life, he thought to himself as he turned down an alleyway and seemed to disappear from sight.

A few moments later a trio of men followed him around the corner, walking more quickly than would be considered normal, and drifting apart from each other in a bid to ensure that they blanketed the entire breadth of the alley. They'd followed their mark ever since seeing him leave the jewellers, with a full looking pouch hanging from his belt. It was the thought of this pouch, and the knowledge that the alleyway was a dead end, that caused them to quicken the pace even more.

Wordlessly though, as they reached was was undeniably the very end of the alleyway, and was also undeniably empty of potential marks, they looked at each other in consternation. At least until a black cloaked man dropped into their midst from above.

Karosin had considered simply using the magic of his boots to walk up the walls of the alley and away from them, but that would have left the trio frustrated and looking out for another target, which was probably not the best thing for anyone concerned. As such, and with more glee than he would admit to when this became a topic for discussion, he had come to the happy conclusion that they would have to be dealt with rather than fled from.

As soon as he landed he lashed out hard with the sword in his hand, twisting his wrist over at the last second and cracking the flat of the blade hard across the fellow's skull. To Karosin's momentary surprise the blow didn't actually drop his target. Clearly his skull is mostly bone rather than brain, he thought as he followed up that strike with a swift back-kick towards another of his assailants, who was now trying to flank him. The heel of his booted foot drove into the man's solar-plexus and he folded up and collapsed to the floor. One down now but Karosin didn't pause his fluid movements, and swung his leg straight back through, now bringing it up as a knee, which thudded into the groin of his first target, causing him to fall to the ground as well.

Two down in the blink of an eye he then turned to the third, a faint smile flickering across his lips as he did so. "If you run I shall chase you down, if you fight I shall knock you down, if you beg I shall turn you down." Holding his sword out straight he pointed the tip of the blade into the other man's face, before pointing it towards the floor, "sit on the other hand and I may perhaps show some decidedly uncharacteristic mercy."

His wannabe mugger dropped to the floor alongside his groaning companions, he then started to speak but was forestalled by a sudden jerk from the sword that hovered in front of his eyes. "If I wanted to listen to your mewling excuses I'd ask for them," said Karosin casually as he crossed to the fellow he dropped with a kick earlier, and booted him in the skull to quieten him.

Karosin reached down to his belt and removed a pair of manacles, tossing them to the seated figure. "Put them on", he commanded, as he slid his sword back into its sheath and then unhooked the crossbow at his belt. "I'd suggest staying still," he said as he sighted down the length, at which the rogue kicked himself backwards, terror in his eyes. Karosin simply shrugged, "don't say you weren't warned", he said as he fired.

The bolt sunk into the man's thigh, and he rolled over and clasped his leg tight. "Stop being a baby about it", sneered the former assassin as he put away the crossbow and turned away. "The guards will be here presently, if I find that you resisted them then I will personally hunt you down, and if I have to do that then a bleeding leg and a period in gaol will be the least of your concerns. Count on it." With that he made his way back down the alleyway and out towards the main thoroughfare, it didn't take long for him to find a guardsman, (their livery of silver and royal blue tended to stand out)., He explained what had just come to pass; a small token displayed to the guard ensured that his word and explanation was believed; and Karosin was free to go about the rest of his rather pressing business.

This pressing business ensured that he moved rapidly, aware that his little diversion had more or less ensured that he would be late for the arranged meeting. Not very late, and probably not late enough to cause any of the others gathered there much undue stress, but enough to bother him on a personal level. Still, he arrived at the prescribed meeting place only a few moments late, and was then let through the pair of sturdy- looking gates.

Once he had passed through these he instantly spotted his wife, the Sunite priestess Llana, who was presently engaged in a discussion with a man, with closely cropped brown hair and wearing a set of loose and rather tattered and frayed robes.

I thought that the beggars would be stopped at the gate, thought Karosin as he strolled towards the man, keeping his face as neutral as possible.

As Llana spotted him she turned around and smiled, somehow managing to shoot him a warning look at the same time, thus going some way towards forcing a polite initial greeting from her husband. "I assume you're here for the same reason we are?" He asked the robed man.

Orrin gave a good-natured smile of his own in response. "Yes, though I know little about what that reason is", he replied with a slight shrug. "It would be troubling for me to leave the children for long anyway."

"You work in one of the orphanages?" cut in Llana, her tone at once interested and concerned. Her own works placed her in a position to help some of the most unfortunate people on Faerun, and she was always interested to meet a fellow altruist, though she would have been the first to argue the toss if one were to label her as such.

Karosin on the other hand would never, ever be labelled as such, and had to stop himself from gritting his teeth at the particular avenue of discussion that seemed to have opened up in front of him. Given that he was never one for the kind of shoptalk that occurred when his wife met fellow ecclesiastics and other assorted philanthropic types he simply laid a kiss on top of her head and then stepped away to look around the large waiting room they were housed in.

As the cloaked figure of Karosin wandered off Orrin simply gave a mental shrug and an external smile. He couldn't affect how some people thought of him and what he did, but neither did he really care, there wasn't the luxury of such in the works he did, aiding the poorest of children and teaching them how to grow up. Even in a city as progressive as Silverymoon abandoned and unwanted children were a problem, and there was always the need to keep the most vulnerable of them out of the hands of Zhentish people traffickers and the thieves guilds.

"Indeed, I've been there for a number of years now, of course it has been there for far longer than I have." He gestured with a calloused hand towards the vibrant red robes that Llana wore, as well as the holy symbol of Sune that was pinned over her heart, "Of course you wear your own badge of where you offer your own help", said Orrin with a smile. "I took a group of the children to your temple last year, and they had a wonderful time, we were hoping to return again this year but I simply haven't been able to find the time", he shrugged.

"You simply must visit again," Llana implored, "it is far too rare that we have children at the temple, and they do so enliven the place." She paused in thought for a moment, "if you desire I can send some of the acolytes down to help bring the children up?"

"That would be a huge help, thank you", replied Orrin. He was about to ask more about the day to day actions of the church when the door opened again and a short, blonde male Elf walked into the room.

From the far side of the room Karosin sighed wearily.

"Ahh there is nothing like a warm audience straight from the off", said the Elf cheerfully as he closed the door behind himself, "and, at the risk of being a cliché it seems that you are nothing like a warm audience."

Llana, unlike her husband had smiled at the arrival of the Elf, and stepped across to give him a greeting hug before turning back to Orrin. "Orrin I'd like to introduce you to Kellindel".

Kellindel broke away from the embrace and, showing a thoroughly un-Elven effusiveness that had been the despair of his parents whilst he was growing up, also moved across to embrace Orrin, who was clearly not used to such immediate physicality and looked slightly embarrassed at the act.

Breaking away from Orrin, the Elf looked towards Karosin, who seemed to now be idly testing the sharpness of the dagger that had appeared in his hand.

Correctly viewing this as no type of invitation to approach the former assassin, he looked away from the human and turned back to Llana, "Do you know what this invite is for?" He asked her with a comparatively blank look, which proved to her entirely that he hadn't actually bothered to read the memo that had summoned them beyond the fact it was an invitation to meet with Methrammar Aerasumé, the head of the Argent Legion, and son of High Lady Alustriel Silverhand.

"I'm afraid not", admitted the Half-Elf, "there's no detail in the letter and when I asked a friend who is as member of the Knights in Silver she had no clue either.:

Kellindel smirked slightly, reflecting on the fact that it would almost certainly be dangerous in the extreme, because he knew well enough of the abilities of both the Sunite Priestess and her husband. "I'm sure all will be revealed in due course."

He suddenly smiled brightly, "how about some music to pass the time?"

"If you play so much as a single note then I promise you that the next time you sing you'll have the range of a soprano", said Karosin, who was still idly flipping a dagger over and over between his hands.

Kel turned to face the assassin, shooting a wink to Llana as he did so, "So you're a poetry man then?" Said the bard with false brightness, "As happens I did recently pen a stunning series of sequential stanzas! It is titled, 'the horrifying joy of a succubal night'. I cannot deny that it is one of my darkest works, and perhaps not suitable for sensitive ears."

There was a click as the door swung open again, and a positively demonic figure stepped through the door. Standing about six feet tall, and with shoulder length hair that was a curious morass of red and black, the man was handsome in a strangely abyssal way. His skin was pale to virtually the point of transparency, and a series of black tattoos were inked around his red eyes. The being had a small goatee, and a set of slight fangs that were visible when he smiled.

Which was exactly what he was doing as he entered, "Orrin my friend", he said in a deep and gravelly voice, "how are you? How are Sissy and the children?"

Orrin also smiled as the figure entered the room, "Yami it's good too see you after all this time!" He waved off the questions and then turned to the others, "Please I'd like to introduce Yami to you all, he looks entirely villainous, but I assure you he's only fifty percent villain at most."

The pale skinned character dropped into a low bow before straightening up, "I assure you all that I'm closer to thirty percent."

He'd been about to continue when another character followed in behind him, standing a full head shorter than the black robed figure of Yami he was a wood-elf, with coppery skin and a slender build. Following behind him was a strange looking beast, it looked almost like a golden badger, but with larger dimensions all around, and an additional four legs.

"Hello there", the Elf looked warily around the room, taking in the variety of species and expressions that presented themselves. "my name is Saevel, I have been asked here to meet with Methrammar Aerasumé, I don't imagine any of you are he?"

Llana smiled at the question and shook her head, "No, we're still waiting for his arrival. Have you travelled to be here?" She recognised his discomfort at being inside, and figured that it was a reasonable guess to assume that he was one of the elven rangers who worked tirelessly to protect the settlements of the north, both human and elven, from the innumerable tribes of monstrous humanoids that proliferated in the foothills of the mountain range that made up the Spine of the World.

"Many miles, yes", replied the elf with a bow. For a moment he looked as if he would reply but it seemed to all watching that he was so unused to exchanging words with other sentient beings that he had simply forgotten how to actually do it.

Though he too was an elf, Kellindel had no such problems, being more gregarious and outgoing than many would have liked, and so he took up the conversational mantle, "How about you?" He looked towards the paper-white skinned figure who had entered just before the elf, "what did you say your name was? Yami?" He both asked and answered the question, "that's an... Interesting name."

"Nickname actually", corrected the figure, "my real name is", he paused whilst trying to frame the sentence politely, "challenging to pronounce, and if you pronounce one of the syllables incorrectly you risk accidentally summoning something from the Abyss."

"Seriously?"

"No."

Yami had been about to continue his explanation when a broad and fully armoured human wearing a tabard that noted him as a member of the Argent Legion walked into the room.

"If you'd please follow me, Sir Aerasumé will see you now."


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO:**

As a group they were led deeper and deeper into the castle, through an array of dizzyingly intertwined tunnels and passageways. After their umpteenth turn down a passageway that was entirely indistinguishable from the myriad others Kellindel walked forwards and slapped their guide on the shoulder, "I've been wondering how you knew where you were going all this time, and I've worked it out, either you yourself are lost and are waiting for us to come to a recognisable landmark, or you have some Minotaur blood in you somewhere."

The guide offered him a watery smile and they turned one final corner to see a large and well appointed drawing room before them.

A tall, silver haired half-elf stepped out to greet them, and the guide bowed before heading off again, but not before Kellindel had leaned over once more and muttered, "I pity whichever of your relatives it was", into his ear.

The half elf shot the bard a questioning look, but Kel merely responded with a cheerful smile and a shrug, and so Methrammar gave his own rather nonplussed look before turning to the others.

"Good afternoon all of you, thank you for coming at such comparatively short notice, and thank you for appreciating the urgency."

Llana looked up at the far taller and figure and dropped into a curtsey, "It is a pleasure to meet you Sir Aerasumé, but I believe I speak for all of us when I say that, though we are happy to aid you in whatever way we can we remain entirely in the dark about why it is that you have summoned us all together?"

"Straight to the point then?"

"I have always found it to be the best way." Replied Karosin with an expression that was virtually unreadable.

Aerasumé looked down at the assassin with barely concealed distaste, frankly from what he'd been told of the fellow's past he had no idea why the Sunite tolerated his presence anywhere, never mind in her bed. But he'd been told that the man had useful and potentially necessary skills, as well as being part of the deal in getting he better half to come along.

Unfortunately, he reflected, it seems that we're all going to be rather strange bedfellows one way or the other.

It certainly said something about the dark haired human though that the half-fiend that he travelled with possessed a far less noticeably malevolent aura.

"Well quite," he eventually replied before leading them through to his drawing room.

The only real concession towards that fact that the room was buried away at the very centre of the castle was that the windows were filled with globes of light rather than actual sunlight. Other than that though there was little to give away the fact that it was one of the most heavily fortified areas in all of Silverymoon.

"Please, all of you take a seat", gestured Aerasumé towards a small row of chairs. Yami span one around to accommodate his wings, Kellindel dropped heavily into the furthest away, Orrin sat on the one closest to the speaker, something he had to do now after a blow in the past left him deaf in one ear, Kelron perched on one of the seats, looking uncomfortable at not being outside, and Llana and Karosin sat by Orrin's side.

"Thank you", Aerasumé himself leaned against the wall and sighed. "These places are, as you know exceedingly difficult to tame and settle, from the Orcs and their kin, to the trappers and tradesmen, to the barbarian tribes and the werewolves, all of them working as their own small reasons why we struggle to make many inroads into taming this wilderness."

Kelron shifted uneasily in his seat for a moment, wondering why he had been brought to this meeting, because if there was going to be a fight, physical or otherwise over continued expansion in the far north of Faerun then he knew well which side he would be coming down on, and it wouldn't be the one that Silverymoon was likely to back.

Still, he had pledged himself to nothing yet, and could leave at any time, though a treacherous part of him wondered at how easy it would be for him to leave from so deep in the bowels of the castle.

Aerasumé, seemingly ignorant of the Elf's discomfort continued, "Of course, whilst we would love to make more space with which to grow our interests into we still have to respect the interests of the other groups up here, especially those of the tribes and those of the woodlands, and respect them we do."

"The problem we have currently is that we're actually pretty content with where we are in terms of how far we've managed to expand, we are certainly planning to make the roads safer, as well as giving the outlying villages a decent amount of protection, but we don't plan on settling any more land, and don't envision doing so for the foreseeable future.

Unfortunately", he continued, "someone out there is certainly doing their damnedest to make it look as if we are stretching deeper and deeper into the Cold Wood and other areas that are, as far as we're concerned, off limits." Aerasumé rose from his own seat and crossed to a map that was affixed to the wall, the various pencil markings and ingrained dirt had left a patina over it which left a very good indication as to how often it was used.

"In the past month more and more reports are coming in from the Wood Elf tribes that live in these woods that someone is burning out huge swathes of the forests. Apparently there are human footprints and other things which indicate that they are the cause, more than that though apparently they keep on finding little hints that these humans hail from Silverymoon", he pointed to the far side of the room, and there on a table was a selection of smouldering items, apparently salvaged from the fires.

"Amongst that little junk-heap over there you'll find coinage, seals and ward tokens that do indeed all hail from Silverymoon, including one token that is very rare indeed", this was something that deeply troubled Aerasumé, for the token had belonged to a good friend, and someone who was no more likely to aid in logging or anything of that ilk that he would have been to sprout wings and fly.

"We've tried to reassure the Elves and the Fey who listen to them that it isn't us, but they're proving unusually hard to convince at the moment."

Turning away from the maps he studied the group before him with a combination of weariness and annoyance, "I don't like having to call in outsiders, but none of you have any overt ties with us and we've exhausted most of our usual methods."

"Including diplomacy?" Asked Llana, for whom a battle avoided was always better than a battle one, at least in physical terms anyway.

Aerasumé smiled wryly, "astonishing as it may seem that was actually our first port of call, but they're not willing to listen to reason, nor to accept our promises that we ourselves will get to the bottom of this.

This has become an issue beyond diplomacy now because in the outlying villages people have started to go missing."

He let his words hang in the air for a moment before continuing, "and, similarly to the case with the fires we invariably find a hint that the kidnapper's are Elven." He pointed then at another heap, where a few arrows and their fletchings lay, as well as an Elven dagger, the blade still stained rust-red with blood."

"It's all too pat, too clean", said Orrin cautiously, as if not entirely ready to give voice to his thoughts, aware of the danger behind such a conspiracy.

"That's exactly what we're thinking", agreed Aerasumé as he wandered back to the map and scrutinised it once more, as if staring a whole through it would force it into yielding some kind of answer.

"Someone is trying to force us, if not into war, then into some kind of separation from those that we have counted as allies in the past." This oblique reference to the D'lardrageth's brought a frown of memory from Kelron, for he had fought in that blood and brimstone tinged campaign, and had lost many friends to the swords and spells of Sarya's unholy armada.

"You can probably also look forwards to them trying to drive a wedge between the Dwarves and yourselves as well." Observed Llana, who looked worried by these revelations, aware of the fragility that existed in the far North of Faerun, and how any destabilisation of the bonds between the 'good' races could lead to ruin, for there were simply so many forces at work, from the Shadovar, to the Orcs and virtually everything between.

"For the time being the Dwarves and ourselves are on good terms, the strength of the trade between us will probably prove sufficient to keep human's and the Dwarves working side by side for the time being."

"Which, assuming our fears are correct that someone is trying to spilt us all apart, will almost certainly be known by your hidden enemies, who would, were they to have any kind of sense of strategy, use this as a way to leave the Elves feeling ever more ostracised and endangered." Said Orrin with a thoughtful tone.

"Agreed", said Yami, interjecting, "I wouldn't be at all surprised if before long you also start to find 'hints' that there have been Dwarves involved as well."

"What are your thoughts", asked Aerasumé, turning to the Wood Elf, who had remained entirely silent throughout the whole explanation.

For several moments he said nothing before standing up and offering a low bow, "Your Grace, I believe that your people are not advancing any deeper, but I also understand the concerns of my people. Trappers, hunters and the like still occasionally move into territory that should, by rights, be the sole preserve of the forest dwellers."

"Though I am sure you shall protest it, you have already taken far too much land for the balance to remain healthy in this region".

Behind him Karosin's lip started to curl upwards in a sneer, he'd never liked Elves, and this ranger here was virtually a picture perfect representation of what was wrong with about half of the species. So remarkably focused on their little forest companions and their ways that they had never managed to understand what it was that drove humanity ever onwards. Then there was the other half of the elves, the mystics, who viewed even the most powerful human as little better educated than an ape, and worth nothing but condescension.

He remembered a rather brief discussion he'd once had with a High Elf, who had compared humanity as a whole, and thus included him, to a mass of parasites, of worms feasting ravenously on a corpse.

It had pleased him immensely to leave the Elf to endure the second half of that metaphor himself.

Aerasumé began to frown but caught himself, he really hadn't brought him in to begin a debate over the rights and wrongs of the 'civilising' of the Northern Reaches, and frankly this wasn't a discussion that they could afford to have now, perhaps in the future when things were better balanced but...

"I apologise for this but that has to be a discussion for another day and another time, I promise though that once we have managed to get to the bottom of who is trying to pit us all against one another then Lady Alustriel and myself will be happy to meet with any representatives of the Elven Nations and the forests.

"Speaking of the Elven Nations", said Llana, who had been reflecting that it seemed that the troubles of the Elves would ever be a pattern in her life, "I assume you are talking to the leaders of Myth Drannor about this issue, because I can't see that it could have escaped their notice?"

"I'd personally heard that Miritar was a fine leader and an upstanding character", agreed Orrin, who was beginning to feel the scope of this occurrence more and more, the simplest of things always seemed to lead to huge, world shattering events in the end.

"He is at that", Aerasumé said with a nod, "and if it were just him we were dealing with then this issue would almost certainly be brushed under the carpet with minimum fuss, but there are more groups in the area that just Myth Drannor, and more than that we would be guilty of the worst kind of self denial if we assumed that all of the figures of Myth Drannor either listened to what Miritar had to say, or considered themselves under his control."

"Lest we forget he himself was only able to raise an army to take back Myth Drannor by ignoring the demands of most of the council of Evermeet, who is to say that someone else couldn't build an army themselves to 'liberate' the forests from human and Dwarven interloper's?" Aerasumé virtually spat out the word 'liberate' as he spoke, investing it with his distaste over the whole sorry affair.

"More than that", he shrugged, "there is plenty enough on his plate at the moment that he will have to delegate a level of responsibility, and there's no saying that the person it is delegated to will prove to be as able as he is to find a decent solution."

There didn't seem much more to be said at this point, and so Aerasumé pointed up to the map once more, "This is where the last of the burnings occurred, I leave it in your hands as to how you plan on proceeding, but my suggestion is that you start there."


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE:**

There was a sudden lurching sensation, and the curious feeling of movement without motion that was entirely intertwined with teleportation magics, and Llana opened her eyes to find herself stood in the blackened remains of a large piece of woodland. That they had done a through job there was undeniable, there was virtually nothing left standing, and the place stank of smoke and flame.

She crouched down and held a hand a few inches over the cindered floor, and even at that distance could feel the heat that the ground radiated. Turning her head she looked across at her husband, who was rooting through the cinders with the tip of a dagger.

Stood beside the assassin was the Elven Ranger, who looked out over the devastation with an expression that was virtually heartbreak. Llana understood love, perhaps better than almost any other on Faerun, she understood all of its variances, from the lust dappled love of the young, to the comfortable love of those who had spent a lifetime with their partners, and every shade and colour in between.

She also understood the love that people could have for pets, possessions, and places, and recognised that the Elf truly and deeply loved the forests, more than he himself could probably explained. For her, as a high priestess of Sune watching a display like that was an extremely uncomfortable thing.

For the time being though she neglected to approach the Elf, recognising that his grief, curious though it was, was still and intensely personal thing, and that, if she were to broach the topic then there would be better times and places than this.

Unfortunately though in this situation the Elven ranger would probably be the one that they would be forced to rely on. Her own husbands talents were invariably grounded in the urban places, her own would be of little use here, Orrin was looking about himself bewildered, Kellindel, who was being unusually quiet was a bard. Again comparatively useless in this kind of environment.

Then there was the abyssal-blooded being who had brought them there.

Yami was dealing with his own troubles at this point, the overpowering stench of the smoke had dredged up memories of his imprisonment there that he would happily be without. As always happened when reminded of certain elements of his past he could virtually hear the blood rushing through his body for a moment, before forcing himself to try to focus on the here and now rather than on the past.

When he finally trusted himself to speak without a snarl he looked at the others and shrugged, "does anyone have any idea where we should be looking? Or even what we should be looking for?" Llana's wordless glance told him that she herself was unsure, and none of the others seemed to have much clue either.

Kelron's arumvorax companion, brought along for the trip answered Yami's question itself. The golden-furred beast had been ambling around the area they'd teleported into, it's nose bent to the ground and snuffling and sniffing at the still smouldering floor. Suddenly it seemed to catch a scent, and charged towards a fire blackened tree stump, at which Kelron looked up and hurried over.

The wooden cinders gave easily to the massed ranks of metal-laced claws of the golden gorger, and in no time the beast had reduced it to fine charcoal.

And there, in the centre of what was once a tree, lay a small golden token, with the sign of Silverymoon etched into the front.

The wood-elf patted the creature's powerful neck, and it burbled happily for a moment before heading off again.

"Does anyone else think that was just a little bit too pat? Too easy?" Asked Karosin as he straightened up. "And more than that, shouldn't the heat have warped it a little?"

"I suppose it's possible that the magic protects them?" Replied Orrin, speculatively, "truth be told though I'm unsure, though I do agree that we've only been searching for a few moments and we already have this.

It should be harder."

The monk turned towards Yami, "If you wouldn't mind doing some aerial scouting I think we'd all appreciate it."

The half-demon nodded and crouched before taking off, the displaced air kicking up a huge amount of dust and cinders.

"Sorry about that!" He shouted as he headed upwards, looking to the left and right as he did so in the hope of seeing something, anything that was a more substantive clue than the one they had just found.

Though that's not entirely true, thought Yami to himself as he began to circle, we have found a fairly large clue, it's just that we don't believe at all what it seems to be showing us.

Given his bloodline his eyesight was far superior to that of a human, but even he could see no further clues from the air, everything seemed to have blended into one black morass of cinders, in fact the only splashes of colour he could see were the clothes of his group.

Nothing seemed to have survived.

Whilst he was flying overhead the rest of the group were down below, and had taken the decision to fan out and head in opposite directions to each other, and periodically they came across more and more trinkets of humanity and Silverymoon.

It was, as Llana later observed, as if someone had been using the small items as seeds and sowing them into the cindered floor.

After a time they all returned to a group and the decision was more or less universal.

"I'm nor sure whether they're deliberately overdoing it or if they think this to be subtle subterfuge, but there are far too many items here for them to have been accidentally dropped." Orrin's tone was curious, bemused and more than a little puzzled as he tried to work out the whys of the conundrum that faced them.

"Agreed", nodded Karosin, who had used double bluffs and other similar tactical feints himself in the past, though at this point he was struggling to come up with any more substance to add to the argument.

Llana had been about to add her own thoughts to the discussion when a voice rang in her head, a voice she recognised as being 'The Hornblade's', the wizard who was the head of the Silverymoon mages, and who answered only to Lady Alustriel herself.

The message was short and precise, the limits of the spell ensuring that;

Attack in Cold Wood on group of travellers. Claim elven attackers though they could not see them. Seems suspicious. Please Investigate. Arrowheads and similar found.

The Sunite digested this news before formulating her own answer;

Shall head there as soon as investigation here complete. Absurd amount of alleged evidence here. Highly suspect. Feels like a set up.

Once she had completed her reply she turned to the others, "I've just had a message from Taern Hornblade, and he says that there has been an attack on a group of humans in the Cold Wood, and they found elven arrows and apparently other things which would appear to indicate that elves were responsible."

"He's asking us to go there and investigate once we're done here".

Kellindel just offered a shrug, clearly believing that they already were pretty much done there, and his reaction was mirrored by the others.

Orrin turned to Yami who had just landed and was trying to get his wind-ruffled hair to settle back down again, "can you put us onto the Cold Wood road?" He asked, aware that the chance that the half-demon had been there was pretty slim.

The demon-blooded sorcerer nodded, "that's the best I can do though, I've never actually been inside them myself."

"Perfect", said Karosin wearily, "it's a huge area of land, there's no guarantee that you'll put us within a hundred miles of the place where the attack happened, never mind putting us close, and whilst I don't mind a walk I have to be honest and say that I'd really rather get this over and done with as soon as possible, taking a hike with you people isn't how I'd intended to spend the next week."

Orrin frowned, keeping his tone polite, for the simple reason that the fellow did actually have a point. "True enough, there were clearly survivors or they couldn't have reported the attack, and that being so then there's at least someone out there who can lead us to the place where the attack happened."

"Back to Silverymoon then?" Asked Yami looking around the group.

"Back to Silverymoon", replied Llana, who was thankful that the monk had been the one to speak up, her husband had a talent for antagonism, and only responded to any response in kind with more venom.

"Not for me, thank you", Kelron had been standing further and further away from the group as they had discussed what he had found, as if he were in some way distancing himself from their conclusions.

"I'll head to the Cold Wood myself on foot, I intend to see if I can discern anything else myself, where humans and..." He looked at Yami for a moment, "other beings, are not welcome."

If the sorcerer took any offence at this he didn't show it, "fine then, one less body to worry about." Llana on the other hand felt a momentary pulse of annoyance, that she swiftly quelled, reminding herself to try and treat the wood elf as she would a grieving relative.

Which is absurd, it was only a piece of forest, and it will grow back.

Came an inner voice treacherously, one that she silenced.

Her antipathy towards Elves was not commonly known, but the combination of a Sembian upbringing and an absent High Elven father had combined to leave her more distrustful of the Elven races than any would have suspected, especially when one considered that her looks favoured her father in a lot of ways.

Kellindel, the other Elf in the party just shrugged arily, clearly not in the least bit bothered, "I'm probably not welcome there either." he said with a grin, "and it has that in common with half the taverns and temples of Sharess up and down the land."

"How will we meet up again?" Orrin was concerned, for Kelron was clearly the most adapted and gifted when it came to life in the natural world, and his apparent absence was not a good thing to the monk's mind.

"I will find you." replied Kelron simply, and without waiting for another word he simply turned around and ran, in a direction that took him towards the Cold Wood.

For a moment the party stood and watched him go, the arumvorax at his side as he easily and lightly crossed the ruined remains of a once mighty patch of forest.

"Yami's magical carriage service, we get you to where you want to be", the half-demon shook his head bemusedly as he spoke, before turning to the others. "ready?"

The familiar lurch of magical travel soon got them back to the gates of Silverymoon, the Mythal that surrounded the city meant of course that they couldn't use the spell to drop right into the heart of it. There was no sense at all in not blocking off that particular avenue of attack, especially when one numbered Demons and Drow as potential interlopers.

As he always had to do before heading into civilisation Yami had polymorphed his form into something more acceptable, and so it was that a tall blonde human in wizards robes treated the gate guards to a winning smile before leading the others inside.

Once they had entered the city Llana took the lead, taking them up towards the palace where she hoped to find some answers, or at the very least some better directions.

As he invariably did in urban environments Karosin drifted away from the rest of the group, using the distance to keep an eye out for anyone who appeared too interested in the party. This was something that he'd done ever since he'd first joined up with Llana in the Dales, and was a habit that annoyed her slightly, but she recognised that it was something that he would do whenever he sensed any kind of danger.

Unfortunately the life that they led ensured that this was virtually all the time.

Behind her Orrin, Kellindel and Yami conversed rapidly, each speculating new theories and then having them shot down one after the other, though in truth it was more through lack of evidence than anything else.

After a brief walk they entered the palace grounds, and were immediately taken to see the Taern Hornblade, being led through another labyrinthine series of tunnels to get to his office.

As far as some wizards chambers went the Hornblade's could probably be considered austere, a small library of spell books, most of which were written in elven and draconic, was placed into a bookshelf on the far side of the room, and there were a series of flawlessly etched summoning circles on the floor.

He had a desk that was covered in papers and inkwells, but that seemed to be entirely un-magical and un-decorative.

"Please do come in", said a gruff voice as they were led inside.

Taern Hornblade stood just a few inches over six feet, and had probably been taller during his younger days, but a slight stoop had developed during his many years and battles Despite this though he carried an aura about himself, an aura of stately command and surety. Dressed in simple blue robes and with grey hair and beard it was sometimes had to reconcile his appearance with the fact that this man had been one of the most feared mages of his age, and still commanded sufficient magical energy to reduce an Orc army to so much shredded metal and flesh.

"I shall not waste anyone's time with introductions and explanations, there is little enough of that at the moment and we'll be better spent using it in other ways." He paused for a moment as he gathered his thoughts, "You have of course found a huge amount of evidence that doesn't so much suggest, as flat out state that we were the ones responsible for the burning down of that section of forest, and unless you're beyond ignorant you expect to find the reverse when you head out to the Cold Wood.

Correct?"

"Correct", replied Orrin who was wondering where this was all going.

"Normally I would suggest that the trip out there could be a waste of time, but on this occasion I think, that there's something to be gained."

"Two things actually", Taern corrected himself. "The first being that you know what to look for and what to ignore, and as careful as whoever is doing this staging has been thus far you're more likely to spot a mistake if you can see it through all of the erroneous evidence."

"You know what I mean", he waved his hand as if impatient with the very idea, "the baubles and trinkets that they seem to scatter about."

"There's also a chance", he continued, "that you being seen in both places, and don't doubt that someone will be aware of your presence, will be panicked by the fact that it's the same people who have linked both of these happenings."

Frankly he wasn't going to hold out much hope of the second option, but the first might just be viable.

"Can we speak to the people who were attacked?" Asked Llana, who was both concerned for them and hopeful they could help, as well as being aware that without someone's assistance that it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack, and that would just be getting there.

"Of course, though as they themselves are guilty of no crime I couldn't keep them here, but they did leave the name of the inn that they're staying at."

The mage crossed to his desk, his stride still strong, and handed Llana a piece of paper.

"Guilty of no crime, but they are... Unpleasant", he imbued the word with sufficient feeling to ensure that everyone got the message that the comparatively gentle word was probably the least of it, and that they could look forwards to spending time with the type of people most normal people crossed the street to avoid.

"Unpleasant people like me", replied Karosin with a smile that was colder than ice.

"I'm sure", said the Hornblade in a droll tone that only cause the pale-skinned human to smile more widely.

"I think it might be best if I spoke to them myself", said the assassin, before turning to the rest of the group. "They're more likely to speak openly to me than anyone with elven blood, and you", he turned and looked at Orrin, "are hardly suited to subterfuge."

Kellindel's bardish pride was hurt by the implication that he might not be able to wheedle the required information out of a gaggle of presumablydim witted humans, but he suspected that the malevolent fellow probably had a point. He could see that Llana too was struggling to form a cogent argument against it and apparently coming up short.

Still he had no intention of sitting around and doing nothing...

"Whilst our murderous companion is undertaking his mission I suggest that I head into a few of the elven taverns and see if I can't find something out there, I'll admit it's unlikely but you never know."

At Kellindel's suggestion Yami nodded, "I'll come too, I can take on the form of an elf easily enough."

Llana worked to unset her jaw, this was the precise reason why she resented the duality of her physical nature. Half-elf and half-human and thus unable to walk with absolute freedom in either society. It was something that had galled her from an early age, and that personal and often inward focusing loathing was a facet that she had worked so hard over the years to change, but she found herself ever surprised by how easily she was rankled by any reference to it, deliberate or otherwise.

She said nothing though, instead considering how she herself would keep occupied in this time.

Fortunately Orrin came to her aid, "I shall be returning to the children", he turned to Llana, "perhaps you would like to accompany me, they could always do with being reminded of the breadth of Sune's love, it is a lesson that can be hard to remember at times in the orphanage."

At this offer Llana gave a genuine beam, something that caused a mingling of relief and annoyance to flare up momentarily in Karosin, though he quickly quelled it, settling on being glad that she wouldn't be brooding in his absence, which she was rather prone to doing.

"It'll be easier for all of us to come and find you two there then", said Kell, who at that moment was reminding himself that he'd need to go home and change first. He sure as hell wasn't going to be heading into a tavern in the soot-stained clothes he was wearing, and stinking of smoke no less!

That wasn't going to pass muster.

"I think it'd be best if we don't set a time, just agree to head there once we've either found something out or decided that it's impossible."

Taern nodded, "that seems sensible enough", he bowed to the assembled group, "unfortunately I must go, there have been small rumours and they're only going to get bigger I suspect."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Silverymoon, being well established as the rather pompously named 'Jewel of the North', lacked for the type of inns that were normally frequented by the more obviously lawless and dangerous, the entire city's bent towards goodness keeping the worst sorts out. Which meant that rather than having entire inns to themselves the less pleasant elements of society were invariably found squeezed into the corners of society.

It was due to this that Karosin entered the Dancing Goat tavern, a lively tavern albeit one whose décor had seen better days. Far better days, he thought to himself as his eyes adjusted slightly better to the enforced gloom of the place. It was clearly designed to be the type of place where shadow would lend beauty to the plainest of people.

To be described as plain though would have been a positive compliment to the collective who sat in the furthest corner of the room, malevolence and ugliness, internal and external, seemed to hang over them.

He approached them, keeping his hands low and not adopting a threatening posture, after all he was there to learn what he could about the alleged attack, not carry one out himself.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen", said Karosin with exactly sufficient volume to cut straight across their conversation, "I have been sent here to talk to the people who were earlier attacked by what I have been led to believe was an Elven raiding party."

Initially Karosin's gaze had turned towards the largest and most powerfully built of the group, expecting that the fellow might have, through dint of his physical brawn, assumed some kind of spokesman's position. Instead though it was the smallest of the gathering who spoke, and spoke with a curiously flat and un-emotive tone.

"We are they", replied the man, who looked up at his questioner with curiously vibrant blue eyes, and seemed to be hiding a half-smile somewhere.

He couldn't have been much more than sixteen or seventeen, but there was a sharp and predatory gleam just beneath the surface and the boyish good looks that put Karosin, if not on edge, then at least on alert. If he'd been asked to quantify exactly what it was that was causing this feeling he wouldn't have been able to explain, but he could say one thing with certainty.

Either the alleged Elven force was a lot bigger than they'd been told earlier or there was something more going on, because he'd have been prepared to stake his right hand that this kid had savvy enough instincts to have turned the table on most ambushes.

"A bad attack from what I've heard?"

Asked Karosin, aware as he asked it that the response was probably going to be along the lines of 'and what have you heard?', and that this would probably go on for another ten to twenty minutes.

"Do you hear a lot?"

Replied the youth in the same flat tone, his voice neither rising nor falling, even as he asked the question.

I'm going to hear you scream, thought the ex-assassin as he fought to keep his eyes from narrowing, but he knew that his was neither the time nor the place to actually act on that particular impulse, and so he simply smiled.

"I hear enough."

With that he turned and walked away, ignoring the sniggers that were coming from behind him, and daydreaming of the elaborate and painful ends which he would have liked all of them to meet in the not too distant future.

Rather than heading towards the exit though he instead headed into the toilets of the establishment, trying to ignore the rank stench of piss that came up from a trough which led outside through a hole in the wall.

He figured that before too long one of them would need to drain off the excess beer, and was gratified in the extreme when the door swung open and the broad back of one of the group stepped past his hiding place behind the door.

A smile on his lips Karosin looped the garrotte around the man's throat and yanked backwards, pulling his far bigger opponent off balance and causing him to spluttering cough for air. As the brute stumbled off balance the ex-assassin hooked his foot behind the other man's heel and sent him thudding to the floor.

In less than a heartbeat he'd straddled the man and released the garrotte with one hand, using that hand instead to draw a dagger, that he now held against the base of the man's right eye.

"If you move or cry out I'll remove two pieces of your anatomy from above the neck, and two pieces from below the waist.

Do you understand?"

Still dizzied from both the fall and the garrotte the man just grunted in response, but the evident fear in his eyes told a sufficient amount for Karosin to lower the blade very slightly.

"Excellent, because I really hate the stink in here, and I can't imagine adding blood to the bouquet would do anything other than make it worse."

He loosened the garrotte fully before tapping the point of his dagger against the other man's face, "now, tell me what you remember of the Elven attack."

When it came the story of what had apparently happened was actually surprisingly similar to what they'd heard the first time, though he did note that the man never actually managed to get a truly good look at any of the Elves, as they, with what Karosin could only consider to be exceptional sense, didn't get close enough to engage physically and restricted themselves to long range harrying assaults.

Not that I can blame them for that, if everyone else in your party smells as bad as you then it seems to me that the Elves were only doing what most members of the opposite sex would choose to do, and engaging you as briefly and from as far away as possible. He thought to himself with some amusement as he pushed himself off the fellow, keeping the razor's edge of the dagger at the man's neck as he did so.

"Just think, had your friend been a little more polite this could all have been avoided."

With that he turned and left, leaving heading quickly out into the afternoon light, not wanting to chased down by the rest of them for the simple matter that brawling in the streets wasn't likely to impress anyone, lest of all his wife.

Something just didn't feel right, though for the moment he couldn't put his finger on what it was.

On his way back to the orphanage he stopped off to pick up a few alchemical ingredients to top up his own supplies that had been getting lower over the past few months, this meant that by the time he got there Yami and Kellindel had already arrived, and their time spent with the Elves had been if anything even less successful than his own fact finding mission.

"To the Cold Wood then?" Asked Orrin, once Karosin had explained the situation as if found it in the Dancing Goat, omitting the episode in the bathroom.

"Makes sense", replied Yami, who had remained in his Elven form so as not to frighten the children.

The group headed back out past the gates again, and formed a circle whilst Yami cast his teleportation spell.


End file.
